Housing free-for-all

SIR – The reason for unleashing a free-for-all in building conservatories and extensions (Letters, September 8) may not primarily be to boost the economy. One third of cases dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate last year were householder appeals. Under the new rules, these will slow to a trickle. This will free planning inspectors to take over hundreds of planning cases from local councils.

Eric Pickles is threatening to strip all councils of their planning powers over large projects, including large housing schemes that will sprawl over green fields.

Mr Pickles is also planning to snatch planning powers from any council he deems to be ineffective or slow. At the same time, he has quietly kept Labour’s hated top-down housing targets in place.

The Coalition is no longer committed to localism. We are entering a period of unprecedented centralised planning.

Andy Boddington Ludlow, Shropshire

SIR – This country is not short of housing, it is short of good-quality housing in the places where jobs and good transport links exist. Instead of building more roads, railways and houses, we should be repairing what we have. Instead of destroying farmland and the wildlife habitats, we should regenerate areas where there is high unemployment.

There should be tax breaks for firms moving to these areas, and for each employee taken on who was previously on benefits. The Government should offer free training for people in building skills, so they can update old housing to modern standards. There should be low rents for anyone taking on sub-standard public housing and improving it themselves. The Government should also offer funding to community and conservation projects. Keep it small, keep it local, and the value for money will be far greater.

Bernadette Bowles Great Kingshill, Buckinghamshire

SIR – If the Government is serious about encouraging house-building, rather than tinker with planning regulations it should remove National Insurance and corporation tax from house-building activity.

I suspect the cost would be relatively small as it probably generates little revenue at present.

H R Wynne-Griffith London W8

Student drop-outs

SIR – Surely in Professor Ebdon’s zeal for “fairness” in university admissions (“Half of all elite college places 'must be open to the poor’”, September 6), he must recognise that setting up a student for failure is most unfair? This is surely what will happen if students selected on “contextual data” lack sufficient ability for completion of their studies. Students who drop out waste an opportunity for someone else.

Ability and aptitude should be the arbiters; background should be irrelevant.

Ginny Martin Bishops Waltham, Hampshire

Welcome hot seat

SIR – Anyone who has ever entered a sub-zero car fitted with leather seats will know why the heated seat was invented (Letters, September 8).

What I don’t like are beepers to remind you to put on your seat belt.

Roy Wilkinson Stapeley, Cheshire

Breakfast behaviour

SIR – Why do characters in soap operas at breakfast time always pour the last of the milk on their cereals and pinch other people’s toast?

Ted Shorter Tonbridge, Kent

EU gives stability

SIR – Boris Johnson is right that Croatia is a lovely place for a holiday but wrong to bemoan the country’s future in the European Union (Letters, September 5).

From the days of Margaret Thatcher, Britain has championed the right of countries in central Europe to join the EU. These countries have known centuries of conflict. Membership of the EU guarantees that each country’s rights will be respected in a framework of shared values and binding law.

Central European countries emerged from communism with fragile political systems, and facing a big challenge: to heal divisions and push through reforms. We should be grateful that Croatia and other new member states met this challenge.

The EU and Britain deserve their share of credit: without the goal of EU and Nato membership, political leaders might have found it more difficult to set aside old quarrels and get on with practical reform.

Enlargement is one EU policy that has been, on the whole, a great success.

Joining the eurozone is another matter. Both the eurozone and Croatia will want to put this off until Croatia’s economy is ready. However, most significant contracts have long since been denominated in euros, so that the difference should be less than a casual visitor might imagine.

John Ramsden British Ambassador to Croatia 2004-2008 London N19

Big Brother online

SIR – I am concerned over how much my computer knows about me. Email and Facebook generate adverts targeted to my interests. I have just downloaded Spotify. My date of birth was a required item and then, at once, at the top of the Facebook adverts appeared one for funeral plans.

Irene Snowdon Wakefield, West Yorkshire

Inaccurate census puts pressure on councils

SIR – The 2011 Census may have revealed that Britain’s overall population has grown, but in those areas where there has been an under-count, it has caused problems.

Since the funding that local authorities receive from the Government is calculated on the basis of population count, an inaccurate count puts pressure on scarce resources, compromising services and burdening the local taxpayer.

Westminster City Council is one of the worst-affected authorities in the country, hit by a 9 per cent fall in the census resident population, compared to previous estimates.

It’s time for a rethink on how we count our population and how we fund some inner-city authorities. It is not only residents that will be left short-changed, but also visitors, workers and businesses who, with the right environment, can help an area flourish and recharge the economy.

SIR – The 2011 Census may have revealed that Britain’s overall population has grown, but in those areas where there has been an under-count, it has caused problems.

Since the funding that local authorities receive from the Government is calculated on the basis of population count, an inaccurate count puts pressure on scarce resources, compromising services and burdening the local taxpayer.

Westminster City Council is one of the worst-affected authorities in the country, hit by a 9 per cent fall in the census resident population, compared to previous estimates.

It’s time for a rethink on how we count our population and how we fund some inner-city authorities. It is not only residents that will be left short-changed, but also visitors, workers and businesses who, with the right environment, can help an area flourish and recharge the economy.

Mark Field MP (Con) London SW1

Passenger Duty contributes to losses in aviation

SIR – Now that David Cameron has ordered a review of airport expansion, perhaps he could also investigate the impact of Air Passenger Duty. Supposedly introduced as a “green tax”, it has reached ludicrously high levels and penalises tourists and business passengers alike. British aviation loses out, too, with many passengers travelling to European hubs and on to long-haul destinations to avoid paying so much. It doesn’t deter travel, it merely makes people avoid our airports.

Let’s hope the next Government will grasp the nettle and look at airport capacity and expansion in a holistic and strategic way, so Britain can reap the benefits for decades.

Kate Graeme-Cook Blandford Forum, Dorset

SIR – Sir Eldon Griffiths oversimplifies by comparing the location of London’s airports with a list of major cities abroad (Letters, September 8).

New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Shanghai are all coastal cities, so it is hardly surprising that they should be served by coastal airports. Even so, at several of these airports the need for runways to be aligned as far as possible into the prevailing wind causes many operations still to take place over land.

On most days at Los Angeles, the onshore wind results in a continuous stream of aircraft flying low over the city to land at the east of the airport.

On certain runways at La Guardia and Kennedy in New York, landing traffic is only able to avoid over-flying built-up areas by undertaking dramatic manoeuvres similar to those that were once familiar to travellers to Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport, with its famous curved approach.

Even this depends on the weather; on less clement days, straight-in approaches over residential and commercial areas on Long Island are still necessary.

Gary Shaw London NW11

SIR – In supporting Heathrow as Britain’s only hub airport with direct connections to other key business centres (Letters, September 7), Simon Baugh, Heathrow’s director of media and public relations, fails to mention that, unlike London, none of the three examples he mentions – Shanghai, Mumbai and Tokyo – has its main airport within the city. Tokyo Narita is some 60 kilometres outside, but with a fast and reliable rail link.